The World Energy Outlook 2012 released by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that America will surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as the world’s top oil producer by 2017, becoming a net oil exporter by around 2030. The US currently imports around 20 percent of its energy needs. The IEA Chief Economist Fatih Birol told a news conference in London that rising energy efficiency and increased production will enable the US to achieve previously unthinkable energy self-reliance by 2035, with increased reliance on natural gas as cheap domestic supplies boost demand.

According to CBS News,  the report says rebounding US oil and gas production and increasing light tight oil and shale gas resources are “steadily changing the role of North America in global energy trade,” speeding up redirection of international oil trade from the Middle East toward Asia.

Birol said he realized how optimistic the IEA forecasts were given that the shale oil boom was a relatively new phenomenon. “If no resources are discovered {after 2020}, then we may see Saudi Arabia coming back and being the first producer again,” he said.

A record amount of oil is flowing out of 200 new wells in western North Dakota: the state is producing 500,000 barrels of oil a day, moving them into second place behind Texas among oil-producing American states. Producers have invested $3 billion in natural gas pipelines, $1 billion in oil pipelines, and more than $1 billion a month drilling new oil wells in the past two years, according to North Dakota Petroleum Council President Ron Ness.  Environmentally controversial fracking is a critical part of recovering oil in North Dakota.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/l1mE32NU5jU[/youtube]

The forecasts by the energy watchdog are a reversal of its prior predictions of Saudi remaining top producer until 2035.

“Energy developments in the United States are profound and their effect will be felt well beyond North America – and the energy sector,” claimed the IEA annual report, giving one of the most optimistic forecasts for US energy production growth to date.

This could have significant geopolitical implications. Analysts ask whether an energy independent US would still undertake to safeguard major trade routes around the world, such as the Middle East’s Strait of Hormuz, where the US had deployed mine-detecting dolphins that we reported on earlier.

Not everyone is convinced that the future is rosy.  On his website Early Warning, Physicist Stuart Staniford blogged, “I am less persuaded myself that using a thousand oil rigs to generate an extra one million barrels per day of oil is necessarily a sign of a large and long-term sustainable increase in US oil production (as opposed to, say, frenzied scraping of the bottom of the barrel). But, still, I’m not certain beyond a reasonable doubt just how deep this particular barrel can be scraped.”

The report does emphasis that renewables will be an integral part of the global energy mix, accounting for nearly one third of electricity production by 2035.

The post USA Fracking Will Top Saudi Oil Production in Five Years appeared first on Green Prophet.

Shale gas takes us down a dangerous path – Tunisians are battling shale gas proponents who say it is less carbon-intensive and ‘green’

With Tunisians protesting Shell’s shale gas plans and Jordanians set to finalise a deal to build the region’s first oil shale plant by the end of the year, it seems that the region is buying into shale. In Tunisia, shale gas is being marketed as low carbon and more environmentally-friendly but the latest research by scientist shows that it is far from that. Examining emissions in the US after the country began burning less coal due to shale gas production, researchers at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research, found that overall emissions had actually gone up. Why? Well, because millions of tonnes of unused coal are being exported to the UK, Europe and Asia.

“Research papers and newspaper column inches have focussed on the relative emissions from coal and gas, “explains Dr John Broderick, lead author on the report from the Tyndall Centre. “However, it is the total quantity of CO2 from the energy system that matters to the climate. Despite lower-carbon rhetoric, shale gas is still a carbon intensive energy source.” US CO2 emissions from domestic energy have declined by 8.6% since a peak in 2005, but researchers warn that more than half of the recent emissions reductions in the energy sector may be displaced overseas by the trade in coal.

Professor Kevin Anderson of the Tyndall Centre notes: “Earlier Tyndall analysis suggests that the role for gas in a low carbon transition is extremely limited, with shale gas potentially diverting substantial funds away from genuinely low and zero carbon alternatives.” So there you have it. Shale gas isn’t the answer to all our prayer – it’s more like a huge distraction from renewables and consequently needs to be ignored.

Jordan’s Oil Shale Plans

Speaking at a news conference, the Jordanian Minister of Finance Suleiman Hafez said the shale deal with an estonian-Malaysian firm Enerfit “will be one of the biggest steps towards the country’s energy independence.” Indeed the project is the first step in a wider programme set to exploit Jordan’s estimated 40-billion-tonne oil shale reserves. Other projects include an initiative to extract 15,000 barrels per day in Karak and the construction of a second, 900MW plant. Enerfit hopes to eventually produce up to 38,000 barrels of shale oil per day. via Jordan Times

For more on shale gas and oil shale in MENA see:

Angry Tunisians Protest Shell’s Shale Plans

Jordan Plunges Itself Into Oil Shale Hell

Greenwash Alert: Shell to fund Environmental Education in Jordan

Image of shale gas road sign via Shutterstock.com

The post Shale Gas and The Ugly Truth: It is NOT Green(er) appeared first on Green Prophet.

Palestinians want to be more energy independent but will Israeli authorities, which are currently threatening the demolition of solar plants in the West Bank, allow them to be?

In light of the Israeli environment minister’s proposal to cut Gaza’s electricity if supplies are running low, it makes perfect sense for Palestinian explore their own energy possibilities. As it stands Palestinians are almost entirely dependent on Israel for electricity and that is not a comfortable place to be for any nation. Indeed, these damning findings convinced investor Hanna Siniora [member of the Palestine National Council and the chairperson of the Palestinian-American Chamber of Commerce] and economist Iskandar Najjar [Professor Emeritus at Al-Quds University] to establish a solar energy project near Jericho.

Palestinians consume about 1,000 megawatts of electricity – 700 in the West Bank and 300 in Gaza. Israel consumes roughly 12,000 megawatts. In the Gaza Strip, a local power station provides 40% percent of the electricity needed and Palestinians buy electricity in small levels from Egypt and Jordan. However, but this doesn’t change their dependence on Israel. Siniora and Najjar developed contacts with American and European investors and hope to launch the project near Jericho in 2013.

“We want to lower as much as possible our dependence on Israel, because we won’t be able to reach a reasonable level of national security if Israel can, at any point, disconnect our electricity, and even harm the power plant in Gaza, as it did in 2006 as punishment for the abduction of Gilad Shalit,” says Siniora to Al-Monitor.com.

Whilst Palestinians are dependent on Israel for the development of their gas reserves, that is not the case for solar energy. Siniora says, laughing: “You can’t set up checkpoints between us and the sun.” For now, Siniora, Najjar and their investors have rented about 100 dunam (24.7 acres) for 25 years in the Jordan Valley near Jericho and Ouja, in Palestinian-controlled Area A. They will only be able to produce five megawatts in the first stage. The project leaders are also looking for financial support from Israel and the Palestinian Authority.

As this proposed project will be based in Area A, there is little risk that the project will face demolition threats like the solar projects in (Israeli-controlled) Area C of the West Bank have faced.

However, questions regarding the future survival of the small solar plants providing marginalised Palestinian communities in Area C with clean energy remains. Is Israel serious about allowing Palestinians to be energy independent or are they only willing to loosen their grip in ways that ignore the on-going occupation in the West Bank?

:: Al-Monitor.com

: Image of Palestinian children via Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

For more on energy and Palestine see:

The Jordan Valley’s Water and Land Under Occupation

Battle to Save Solar In Remote Palestinian Villages

Israeli Environment Minister Proposes Cuts to Gaza Electricity to Bridge Shortfalls

The post Palestinians Embrace Solar To Reduce Dependency on Israel appeared first on Green Prophet.

Had a busy week? Well, why not stop and sample the delights of Sunday’s news nuggets

It’s been a busy week here at Green Prophet headquarters and we’ve all been hard at work highlighting the green and not-so-green news of the Middle East. Personally, finding out that Mekkah wouldn’t be replicating the mistake of building huge, gawdy clocktowers and would be embracing traditional architecture instead was the highlight of the week. Miriam’s interview with a water engineer on the dangers of fluoride was an interesting (if shocking) read and Karen’s post on bike culture in Beirut raised some important questions.

If you’ve missed Tafline’s posts on her trip to the Siwa Oasis, firstly shame on you! And secondly, go read them now and enjoy the amazing photography that accompany the posts on the veiled weavers and salt carvers who love their trade. Once you’ve done all that, come back and read about electricity cuts in Yemen, green grants and find out whether the Dead Sea made it as one of the seven natural wonders of the world.

Dead Sea Doesn’t Make To the 7 Wonders List

Despite Jordan and Israel’s efforts to promote the splendour of the Dead Sea, it wasn’t chosen as one of the New Seven Wonders of Nature (it did however make it to the final 10 contestants). The winners were: the Amazon River in South America, Iguazu Falls in Argentina and Brazil, Halong Bay in Vietnam, Puerto Princesa Underground River in the Philippines, Jeju Island in South Korea, Komodo in Indonesia and Table Mountain in South Africa. Via Haaretz

Yemen Struggling With Limited Electricity

The water-poor (if conservation smart.) Yemen is dealing with even more problems- this time related to energy. Reports have emerged that the capital city is struggling with severe electricity cuts that mean on some days, residents are getting just one hour of electricity.
Via Global Post

Ford Awards $100,000 in Environmental Grants

Ford Motor’s annual environmental grants were awarded to 12 organisations across the Middle East this month. This years winners include three projects focusing on marine protection in the UAE, Kuwait and Oman; an environmental education project in Lebanon; an environmental community theatre in Jordan; a study of the Arabian Oryx; a Green Ramadan project in Kuwait and lots others.

Top image via XYO/flickr.

For more weekly digests and Sunday snippets see: 

Sunday Snippets: Bahrain’s Water Solutions and Egypt’s Gazelles

Sunday’s Green News Snippets: Saudi Rail and the Haifa Oil Spill 

The post Ecological News From the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Thinking about buying an electric car like ones being promoted by Shai Agasi’s Better Place? Following my test drive of one of their Renault Fluence ZE Concept cars it turns out that it may be longer than planned before this country will have the electric power grids needed to run large numbers of them, according to comments by people such as Eyal Hadas (who we’ve interviewed), managing director and head of renewable energy at Cukierman & Co. Investment House as told the Media Line recently. 

What Hadas, skeptical of the Better Place car concept, was especially referring to the use of renewable energy, such as solar and wind energy, despite optimistic goals for the use of renewable energy in Israel:

“Israel will never be able to meet its [renewable] energy goal because the power grid is not adapted to handle the demands of renewable energy, since renewable energy sources such as solar and wind energy are dependent on changing conditions. The present Israel power grid is not suitable to adapt to these changes, whereas fuel sources such fuel oil and coal are more constant.”

According to the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure, headed Uzi Landau (touting on UPI that Israel’s new weapon against oil will be green energy), the country’s three main energy sources are coal (69%), natural gas (23%) and oil (7%).

Regarding renewable energy, Mr. Landau’s ministry has set goals for the percentage of power that solar, wind, and even wave energy, being developed by companies like Shmuel Ovadia’s SDE Energy Ltd.   Landau’s ministry predicted that by the year 2020, 10% of Israel’s energy needs will be supplied by renewable energy. In a January article posted on Green Prophet, I asked if energy advances in  Israel are in parallel to those abroad.

In the short run, additional power plants, especially those designed to run on natural gas will have to be built to provide enough energy to power the increasing consumer demands of people using air conditioners and other energy consuming appliances like the mammoth duplex refrigerators that have been proven to be the major energy consumers in most homes these days in Israel.

But those who are involved in promoting renewable energy projects, including Israel’s Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan, are more optimistic in the country’s development of renewable energy:

“We are focusing on promoting goals for Israel. Right now we set a goal that was approved by a governmental decision to have 10 percent of renewable energy but we are punching forward to bring it to 25 percent renewable energy by the year 2030.”

That optimism had better be turning into reality soon, as Better Place is hoping for their electric car infrastructure to be servicing electric cars in the year 2012 – only two years from now. If not enough electricity is available to power these cars, then they will be no better than short run curiosity pieces that won’t be able to travel more than a few kilometers a day, due to power shortages and even major electricity black outs.

::The Media Line (links to site where article can be read without subscription)

Read more on Israeli energy issues:

Are Israel’s Energy Advances Parallel to those Abroad?

Israel, Egypt and Abu Dhabi all set Renewable Energy Goals

Tamar Natural Gas to Drill New Wells to Power Better Place Cars

The post Israel's Grid Will Never Handle Renewable Energy Goals appeared first on Green Prophet.

Fresh on the heels of Israel, Egypt, and the UAE, who have all recently made commitments for a renewable energy future, Jordan recently launched EDAMA,  an initiative to help Jordan reduce energy demand, water usage, and protect the environment.

EDAMA Chairperson Karim Kawar indicates that Jordan is using its energy and water resources in an economically and environmentally unsustainable manner.  Jordan imports as much as 96 percent of its energy, he says, which equaled 20% of the country’s GDP and 24 percent of its total imports in 2007. 

Much of this energy comes from dirty-burning oil, so Jordan produces  13.4 million tons of greenhouse gases just from its energy sector.

Kawar also indicates that Jordan is consuming water from its aquifers at twice the renewable rate.

The EDAMA initiative intends to respond to these challenges by developing a comprehensive strategy “that streamlines efforts towards effective energy sector performance, increases private sector participation and investment and reduces the environmental impact of energy and water use.”

To draw their plan, the initiative will involve Jordanian and international experts from both the private and public sectors.

“Our ultimate objective is to develop Jordan as a model for energy independence by using renewable sources, which has a direct impact on our country’s long-term economic competitiveness, water resources and environment,” Kawar said.

EDAMA is supported by USAID, whose Mission Director Jay Knott commented that increased energy, water, an environment productivity will also provide opportunities for growth and investment that benefit Jordan’s entire economy.

The EDAMA team hopes to have their strategy completed by June.

For more information, check out EDAMA’s spiffy new website!

:: Jordan Times

More renewable energy and water conservation in the Middle East:
Drought in Jordan Calls People to Pray for Rain and the Controversial Dead-Red Peace Canal
Qatar to Set Some Environmental Goals
Israel, Egypt & Abu Dhabi All Set Renewable Energy Goals
Eilat Renewable Energy Conference Full Steam Ahead For February

The post Jordan Launches EDAMA Intiative on Energy Independence, Water Conservation appeared first on Green Prophet.

Green Design – From Theory to Practice (see preview post here), a major international architectural seminar took place this week here in Jerusalem, bringing together leading experts from the worlds of architecture, design, and integrated studies.

Despite the recent war in the south, all but one of the international practitioners came, and by doing so, in a single stroke they reinvigorated Israel’s green thinking community, overcoming as one speaker noted, “our sense of collective depression.”

With early starts, through packed daytime lectures and workshops, to the last session finishing late every night, the conference, located in the big central venue at Binyanei HaUmma (or ICC), this Green Design Seminar has been a success in every way possible.

Bio-Climactic Skyscrapers

Speaking exclusively to Green Prophet, conference chairman and internationally renowned architect Ken Yeang said: “Today we are exploring the theoretical work done in this field of designing for a sustainable future, and using the range of technical solutions. I’m delighted to be back in Jerusalem, and proud to have helped to bring such an outstanding group together.”

Yeang has pioneered the passive low-energy design of buildings, dubbed ‘bioclimactic skyscrapers,’ authored several definitive guides to ecological design and particularly green skyscraper design, is a visiting professor at many worldwide universities, and modestly runs architectural practises in the UK (where he has recently designed a green extension to London’s Great Ormond Street Hospital) , the US, and Malaysia.

“Green design is a bio-integration of the physical, systemic and temporal spheres,” Yeang told an audience of approximately 1,000 during the Conference’s opening address: “We must imitate ecological systems, which the human species may have destroyed or disrupted, and it should be built in that any potential green design will monitor and rectify any environmental damage.”

Biomimicry: seawater and solar

While Yeang’s buildings controversially try to use nature within them, by either incorporating planters vertically up and around the surface of the structure, and try to make links with urban wilderness that may surround them, another keynote speaker at the conference, Michael Pawlyn, gets his inspiration from nature first, using the term ‘biomimicry’ (first coined by writer Janine Beuyus), which he then applies to his design process.

He has used this most dramatically to great effect by designing the Biomes at the Eden Project in the UK. Here, in this pioneering development returning a quarry to life as the world’s largest showcase of different climate zones and biodiversity, Pawlyn and his team were inspired by dragonfly wings, and through an illustrated workshop as well as a keynote speech, Pawlyn constantly referred to elements within nature which feed into the human processes of imagination.

The turning point for his career was observing how the Nambian fog basking beetle uses its shell to attract water from the desert air at night to survive.

This sensitive exploration of processes within even the smallest eco system has led him to pioneer seawater greenhouses, that capture seawater and convert it to agricultural use.

Combining this technology with solar capturing techniques, Pawlyn is developing a Saharan Forest Project that he hopes will go some way to using the otherwise wasted potential of salt sea water and the heat of the sun, and move humans away from the ailing carbon-based economy.

Sustainable design in education

One of the most anticipated speakers was pioneering design architect Michael McDonough, who praised the building material Aerated Autoclave Concrete (or AAC for short, known here as Habel) as being the most environmentally friendly material he has worked with in 30 years of design and construction.

“This material I regard as a ‘wunderkind’, ” he announced to an audience of somewhat skeptical Israeli architects. “It is the lightest, strongest, most insulative material available, mold and mildew free, and will ensure any building has the potential to be a zero energy building (combined with the correct heating & ventilation systems). And all it is, is a combination of cement, lime, water and sand, caused to expand through the addition of aluminium powder.”

Other speakers included Israel’s own Nadav Malin, vice president and editor of ‘Building Green’ and ‘Environmental Building News’ (note to self: must get copies of those), Stefan Behnisch, Thomas Herzog, and another Brit, David Lloyd Jones, who has been at the forefront and sustainable redesigns for many schools in the UK.

To bring in local talent for his workshop, ahead of his trip to Israel, Lloyd Jones approached the Anglican School in Jerusalem and asked the students to do a sustainable redesign of their school. The students excelled in their brief, and displayed to the audience a large 3D model of their desired ‘rebuilt’ sustainable school, as well as a powerpoint walk through of it, complete with solar capture units and a gym and cafeteria powered by the (rarely) unending heat of the Jerusalem sun!

Hopefully these international students will be the sustainable architects of the future. Many thanks to the conference organisers at Yad Hanadiv (The Rothschild Foundation) and all the speakers, as well as the attendees, for a stimulating 2.5 days of green design and truly deep green collective thinking (even the conference programme was printed on recycled board).

The post Designing from Nature at Jerusalem's Green Design Seminar appeared first on Green Prophet.

I’d spoke yesterday with a rep from one of the major stakeholders, Shaya Segal from Delek Drilling, who confirms the find, but who, like the local analysts were saying, says that it will take about 2.5 weeks to know what the discovery can mean. 

I’ve read reports that taking the natural gas stock from the pocket called Tamar, after the granddaughter of a geologist working at the site, will cost somewhere around $1 billion. But that the value of it amounts to about $15 billion. 

If Israelis can pull the gas from the seafloor, with the help of a major Houston-based stockholder Noble Energy, then they could, say reports, be close to energy independent for 15 years. That means buying less fuel resources from Egypt, and other less than friendly neighbors.

But natural gas, a fossil fuel, is not exactly a clean fuel. 

The find does question however, the direction of Israel’s future and the development of clean technologies. I imagine the discovery is exciting for Shay Agassi at Better Place, who I’ve personally criticized. His plan to use electric cars in Israel was a good idea on paper, but up until now, it looked as though Israel’s power plants would continue to be fueled by very polluting coal sources. 

Meanwhile, according to the Jerusalem Post, just when Israelis and Gazans were hoping for quiet, after a ceasefire earlier in the week, we learn that Lebanon is claiming that part of the Tamar natural gas reserve is in Lebanese territorial waters:

“The Lebanese government might warn Noble Energy Inc., a US corporation which is part of the consortium that discovered the Tamar 1 gas reserve off the shores of Haifa, that the reserve may be in part in Lebanese territorial waters, according to Al Liwaa, a Lebanese paper.

“In a meeting of the Energy, Infrastructure and Public Works Committee in the Lebanese Parliament, Chairman Muhammad Kabbani said Israeli media reports on the recently discovered natural gas reserve raise the possibility that the reserve extends to Lebanon’s territorial waters. “We should take every legal measure possible in order to preserve Lebanon’s right,” the paper quoted Kabbani as saying.”

What’s certain, is that it’s never boring over in these parts of the world. 

For more on the story unfolding in Israel, read an earlier piece by Green Prophet’s Maurice on the natural gas found off the coast of Gaza. 

::JPost

The post Israel Strikes "Natural Gas" Pocket, Promising Energy Independence for 15 Years appeared first on Green Prophet.

Man, alternative energy solutions can’t come fast enough. The world is teetering on the verge of runaway climate change (some predictors say there’s less than 100 months), and gas prices are killing us not only at the gas station, but are affecting everything we buy from food to clothes to you name it. Racing to get an edge in the market is America’s AES, who’s obviously got a serious interest and investment in Israeli clean technology.

Green Prophet reported a massive wind energy deal AES was in with Mey Golan (estimated $500 million), and now we read, the company is keen on investing in Israeli biofuel through GNRY. According to Globes (who we are not going to link to because they archive after 1 week), AES Corporation is in negotiations to invest in the Israeli alternative energy company GNRY Ltd to the tune of a deal worth NIS 25-27 million ($8 million).

GNRY is Israel’s first biomass-based steam production company, says YNet, producing electricity from steam generated by burners using wood chips derived from tree trimmings as fuel. Its first power plant was set up at Kibbutz Maanit (near Pardess Hana) for an estimated cost of $7 million. We haven’t done a carbon audit on the company, but newspaper reports say the plant is more environmentally friendly than burning fossil fuel and is 25 percent cheaper.

YNet says that municipalities and forests in Israel generate excess tree trimmings which constituted an unsolved problem of biological waste. (Side note: Israelis trim trees far too often and excessively for my taste).

The facility in Galam – which is expected to use 25,000 tons of woodchips per year – serves as a breakthrough solution to the problem with additional significant environmental ramifications.

During the facility’s inauguration ceremony, Minister of Environmental Protection Gideon Ezra said that “the state of Israel has far to go to reach a progressive policy on recycling. This facility constitutes a shining example of ‘green business’ and I call on other entrepreneurs to take part in ‘green initiatives’, for all of our sakes.”

GNRY has been involved in engineering projects for five years, but just began dealing with green energy projects a year and a half ago (and an investment blogger – Blogging Stocks – covered them a while back. The Israeli press say it’s a first of its kind in Israel, using biomass to create steam. There’s another neat biomass fuel company we know about: Genova, who’s burning olive pit biomass for fuel.

::Ynet

The post AES Takes Steam Energy Out Of GNRY's Waste Wood Chips appeared first on Green Prophet.

From creating the world’s most popular puzzle website (and a Time Magazine top 50), Israeli-British entrepreneur and hightech whiz Gideon Greenspan decided to change gears and put a focus on the environment.

A couple of years ago, Gideon (who is based in Tel Aviv) was looking for a way to offset his travel and was confronted with a maze of possibilities in the online environment. A master of invention, Gideon’s wheels started turning: he decided to build his own user-friendly directory that offered an independent and balanced rating system. Today he is helping people make sense of all the carbon offset options, and wildly varying prices per ton of CO2e, through his project Carbon Catalog.

He also runs a blog, Carbon Catablog, a repository of insider news and interviews.

Today Gideon talks with Green Prophet about how the Carbon Catalog idea started, where we’re headed and how Israel, in particular, can lighten the carbon load on our planet.

Can you tell us a little bit about you and your background?

I’m originally from the UK and moved to Israel in 2000. By trade I’m an Internet entrepreneur – my creations include Websudoku.com, the world’s most popular puzzle website, and Copyscape.com, a search engine for plagiarism. I’m also involved in a number of Israeli startup companies.

I’ve always been aware of green issues. One thing I like about the software business is that you can create a lot of economic value while consuming (relatively) few natural resources. But I’m no “tree hugger” and my approach is pragmatic rather than ideological. The environmental steps we take in the coming decades will have a large effect on the quality of life for generations of humans to come

Can you tell us about Carbon Catalog and your rationale for starting the project?

As your readers probably know, carbon offsets allow you to neutralize your carbon emissions, by funding an equal reduction in emissions somewhere in the world. A year or two ago I started buying offsets for myself, and found the process to be extremely frustrating.

While there were tons of providers selling offsets online, I wanted a central repository of information that compared and contrasted the providers, so I could make an informed choice about where to buy.

Eventually I decided to solve the problem myself, and created Carbon Catalog. Carbon Catalog is a directory of carbon offset providers and the projects that they support. The listings are continuously updated based on the information on each provider’s website. Carbon Catalog also rates providers based on their transparency and the quality of their projects.

But there’s also an entrepreneurial angle. Depending on what happens in the UN, and in America’s corridors of power, the next decade could see massive growth in the carbon markets, and I’m positioning Carbon Catalog to take advantage of that. But this is for the longer term – for now, I’m focused on providing a non-commercial service for voluntary offset buyers.

What makes Carbon Catalog different from any other resource out there, ie carbon footprint calculators?

Carbon Catalog’s goal is provide an objective and transparent source of information, without any interest or agenda. In other words, it makes no difference to us whether you buy offsets, how many you buy, and who you buy them from. This is unlike most carbon offsetting sites, whose end goal is to encourage you to make a purchase.

Do you think carbon offsets can be an important intermediate step for curbing climate change?

It depends what you mean by carbon offsets. If you mean voluntary offsets, of the sort that are currently purchased by a small number of individuals and companies, then the answer is sadly no. While they do a good job of increasing awareness and encouraging innovation, they will never be a serious part of the solution, because the volume is too small.

On the other hand, if you mean the kind of carbon market that would be created if the world’s politicians and statesmen were brave and principled enough, then it’s a very different matter. While the voluntary market is nibbling at the edges, widespread international regulation would enable the dual problems of climate change and fossil fuel dependency to be tackled head on. Whether we like it or not, money and economics – not words and aspirations – are going to make the crucial difference.

Who are the players most likely to drive the carbon offsets market?

Without a doubt it’s politicians. There is a vast amount of financial and human capital poised to participate in an international carbon trading system. But everything depends on policy and regulation being in place.

Can you give us some examples of ways people in the Middle East can offset, or some steps they can do to lighten their impact?

In this part of the world we’re cursed (and blessed) with abundant heat and sunlight. This means lots of air conditioning, leading to high electricity demand during peak day hours. So a simple step is to turn down our air conditioning, and make sure windows and doors are closed. But the flipside is the huge potential for solar electricity generation. This could both serve local needs, and then be exported to the wider world.

Some say the market could explode to $1 trillion by 2020 in the US alone. Any ideas about what Israel is doing or could do in this market?

On a global scale, Israel’s energy consumption and carbon emissions are very small, so I don’t think it will be a significant source of carbon projects. Rather, I think Israel’s main role will be in research and development. Israel already has a lot of experience in solar energy, and its culture of entrepreneurship and innovation should enable it to expand rapidly into other related areas.

What is carbon financing and how can an Israeli or company in the region get carbon financed? Israel and its neighboring countries could be viewed as “developing” countries. How could prospective projects get certified for providing offsets? Is it a difficult process?

[I combined these two questions]

Carbon financing is the method by which a project which leads to reduced carbon emissions can receive funding from a company or entity which is seeking to offset its emissions. It’s needed by projects which are not economically viable in and of themselves.

The best way to get carbon financed is to work with a company which specializes in developing and reselling carbon credits. In Israel the two main players seem to be Elysium and EcoTraders.

Experts say that if the cataclysmic effects of climate change happen, further instability and violence in the region would ensue. How would you respond to that?

It is undoubtedly a concern – environmental degradation tends to exacerbate conflicts which are lying just below the surface. In the case of Israel and its neighbors, the most pressing issue is water. If climate change leads to less rain and more evaporation, it will become even harder to satisfy the water needs of all the populations in the region.

Maybe if more people offset in this volatile region, ie in the Palestinian Authority, it could help bring stability to the region. Is this so? We understand that “educational” projects can also be construed as carbon offsetting by some standards. If so, how could people in the region connect to the financing for their projects?

There are some offset providers who consider education as part of their offsetting portfolio. However I’m fairly skeptical about this, since it’s impossible to predict or measure the carbon reductions that result from these activities. I’m not saying they are a bad thing, but I don’t think they can play a serious role in a carbon portfolio.

Do you think it’s important for people flying to Israel to offset? If yes, any recommendations?

Of course, it’s a great idea for people flying anywhere to offset their emissions! As for a recommendation, I can’t suggest better than checking out the listings at Carbon Catalog, to find a suitable provider.

In a way the KKL is the world’s first carbon offset organization by planting millions of trees in the Land of Israel. Would you agree?

Well, I don’t know if it was the first organization in the world to support tree planting, but it is interesting how issues of deforestation have gained renewed urgency in the context of climate change. It is estimated that 20-25% of global carbon emissions come from burning and cutting down trees. That is almost as much as is generated by the world’s cars, trucks and buses.

Some say that treeplanting is not the most effective way for offsetting. Why? What do you think is the best way to offset?

Yes, many people question the effectiveness of tree planting as a means to offset carbon emissions. Most offsets based on reforestation look 50 to 100 years ahead when calculating their reduction in carbon emissions. In other words, if you pay to offset a tonne of carbon dioxide from a reforestation project today, it will take up to a century for this tonne of carbon dioxide to actually be absorbed.

What’s more, if the trees are burnt or chopped down at some time in the future, all of the carbon they absorbed will simply be re-emitted into the atmosphere, leading to a net zero effect. By contrast, most other offset projects look no more than 10 or 20 years ahead, and this strikes me as a more realistic basis for calculating reduced carbon emissions.

I believe the best offsets are those which lead to long-term reductions in the burning of fossil fuels. This primarily means investing in electricity generation from renewal sources. Once a solar panel, wind tower, or hydropower station is built, it can generate clear power continuously for many decades. Cheap and clean electricity will also encourage us to run our cars off the power grid, rather than fossil fuels.

Thank you, Gideon.

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